February 27, 2014

 

A quick look at the drivers and teams of the 2014 Supercup season, and what we can expect to see from each ahead of the upcoming year.

Scuderia Basilea

# 0 Yuri Oggiano
# 2 Mikko Jakonen
Test: Matteo Zandona

After a good Supercup campaign for Basilea last year, were they took the drivers championship as well as finishing 2nd place in the constructors championship, the team is staying in the Supercup to grow even bigger in this series.

For 2014 team Principal David Jundt chose a new but experienced line-up with Yuri Oggiano & Mikko Jakonen.

Oggiano is a new driver in the GPVWC but has experience in some Italian leagues. Testing shows us that he is very quick, but only time will tell how fast he really is. However, Basilea seems sure that the Italian job is the best for the team.

Jakonen, who won the GPVWC Superleague drivers championships in 2002 and 2004, will drive the other Basilea car. Jakonen drove a few rounds during last year?s Supercup championship, but he wasn't found at the top of the standings and he really has to work to get the job done this year.


Malta Force

# 3 Menno Klont
# 4 Patrick Gatewood
Test: Ben Warren

The force from Malta was not able to finish on the podium in last years? Supercup, despite scoring many top 5 results and even a fastest lap, team manager Jason Muscat will do anything to change that during the 2014 season.

Menno Klont already showed his pace last year and is hungry to score his first Supercup podium within GPVWC, however the pressure will be intense and the question is whether Menno can deal with this.

Patrick Gatewood scored some decent points last season, but this driver has had many high and low points during the 2013 season. Patrick needs to work on his consistency but if he can get that under control, he will be a valuable asset for the Malta Force.

With a good setup and strategy, the two drivers could score some amazing results together and there is a big chance that the Malta Force duo gets their much wanted podium and points in order to get a decent place in the standings.


Satellite Racing

# 5 Sven de Vries
# 6 Brandon Warren

Satellite is on the grid again for another year of racing. They retain the duo that finished the Satellite season last year, Matt Strand wanted to keep the all American line-up and, with Sven de Vries and Brandon Warren behind the wheel, they did.

De Vries, who already proved to be a decent driver by scoring one podium in the Supercup last year. The question will be whether Sven is consistent and relaxed enough to score points in every race?
If he can do that then Sven will be a dangerous outsider for the Supercup title.

Warren scored some good points last year and we believe that this is his aim for the 2014 season, he will need to raise up his game and drive better then ever to score points in this strong field of drivers, but we think he can get that done.


Streetfighter Racing Systems

#7 Douwe Tapper
#8 Mikko Suokas
Test: James Johnson

After finishing in 8th position in the constructor standings, Streetfighter fully replaced its line-up in order to try to close the gap to the other teams and be more successful in the future and they will compete with drivers Douwe Tapper and Mikko Suokas.

Tapper won several races in last years? Formula Challenge and could finish on top of the standings when he is able to finish consistent and on the podium. However, history showed that he hits bad luck quite often.

Suokas scored several podiums in the Supercup as well, but never won a Supercup race so far. With a decent setup Suokas could win a race, although this will be difficult to reach.
With this line-up Streetfighter will easily forget the ?bad? 2013 season.


PB Racing

# 9 Maurice Brackhahn
# 10 Philipp Puschke

Last year PB racing had a difficult season and 2014 is all about the ??change?? at the team.
With a whole new drivers line-up they are Aiming to take the jackpot. The team wants to achieve that in a German way. They signed Maurice Brackhahn and Philipp Puschke.

Brackhahn, who also competed in last years Supercup showed good pace during pre-season testing. He is really quick and we think that he has not reached his peak yet. Maurice could be the surprise of the year.

People in the world of GPVWC are sure, Philipp Puschke is the hot favourite to get this year?s Supercup title. He is a really good driver over one lap, and in previous championships in other leagues he showed skills and speed. Will it be enough to take the drivers title? Who knows, but we assume all less then a championship behind his name will be a failure.


FA Racing

# 11 Philip Cullen
# 12 Tom Parker

Forever Alone Racing has been competing in various GPVWC series. However, this might become their most successful season yet. Philip Cullen and Tom Parker are both experienced and consistent with top-10 finishes and regular podiums. The 2014 season might become a tough one for both drivers
Getting top 5 in the constructors championship should be a good target for the team.

Cullen has had previous success in the Supercup in 2012, finishing 3rd in the driver standings, and we have no doubt that he can get good points and podiums again in 2014, FA can be very happy with this signing.

Parker; everybody knows him and everybody knows him and his speed, he already won some test sessions and is a good driver over one race, but is he a championship contender? We think that would be very difficult, Tom is very quick, but sometimes he lacks the consistency needed to clinch a championship. Nevertheless, Parker seems better than ever so we would not be surprised if he can get some consistency in.


Centurion Grand Prix

# 14 Dan Rusu
# 15 Martin O'Connor

Next up is the Centurion GP team of Principal Vinodh Moodley. They will start the season with a completely different line-up than what they had last season. Like much of the other teams Centurion, chose for more experienced drivers.

Rusu will do Supercup racing for another full season at Centurion, he appears to be very motivated to get some good results on the board, and the team will benefit from Dan his experience. He looks to be faster than ever before and we would like to see him finish in the points, only scoring points will be tough.

O'Connor rejoins the racing in Supercup as well. Last year, Martin raced for PP Dynamic and is now looking to do a full season at the Centurion GP team. With Martin they have a possible point scorer in their car, but only time tell.


Fox Racing

#16 Andreas Wauters
#17 Christoph Lichtenstein

Fox Racing ended up at the bottom of last years? Supercup and thus do not want to end last again.
The team needs to aim to do better than 2013, which was a horrible year in the team?s history.
Andreas Wauters and Christoph Liechtenstein are the responsible drivers for this goal. But are they fast enough to score points on a regular basis?

Wauters is not the fastest driver in the field, but finishes almost every race and that is how he scored several points last year: finishing when others don?t.

Lichtenstein is the drivers champion of the 2010 season, but that is a long time ago and a lot of fast drivers emerged. Lichtenstein will be able to score points. However, top-3 finishes are far away and can only be dreamt of.


Storm Racing Team

# 18 Emanuel Gaczella
# 19 Adrian McNaughton

Coming up next is the Storm Racing Team. Storm Racing is a very well known team within the GPVWC. They scored a lot of wins and podiums in recent years in the Formula Challenge. Last year they provided team manager Gaczella the needed tools and he took the FC championship in dominant fashion. Now it is time for a new ??challenge?? and what better way could they do than to keep both the drivers Gaczella and McNaughton from last season in order to help them them making the step to Supercup.

Gaczella is clearly one of the favourite drivers of this years? Supercup season, he knows how it is to win races and championships and that is what a team needs; a guy who knows how it feels to battle for victory and pushing to the extreme to get this goal. But with that being said, to win this years Supercup championship he needs to improve to even get a chance to clinching that, and we are not sure whether he can keep up with the Supercup?s ?big boys?. Nevertheless, Gaczella will be one of the eye catchers in this Supercup season.

McNaughton is a driver who deserves to make the step up to Supercup, he finished the FC season in 10th place but had some bad luck on its way. He proved to be quick over one race in the pre-season test and that he will score decent points for storm is a fact, but we think a podium or a top 10 position in the championship will be too high for Adrian this season, but we like to be proven wrong, you go lad!


Edonis Engineering

#20 Jason Muscat
#21 Oskari Kantonen

Team manager Menno Klont put up a decent basis for success by signing Jason Muscat and Oskari Kantonen and Edonis Engineering could impress in its debut season.

Muscat returns to the Supercup after a reasonable Superleague season, finishing in 9th position in the drivers standings, top 8 positions are in reach for Jason and if he can get the consistency he had in the Superleague, finishing most races in the points, the Edonis team should be ready for a good bag of points at the end of the season.

Kantonen already drove some races for Edonis Engineering in Formula Challenge last year but also drove some Supercup races for Vod:Bul. In the two races he drove he scored one podium, but the question is: does he have the pace to battle with the best drivers of the field, and can he manage to beat his teammate. It will be difficult but not impossible

Both Muscat and Kantonen are be able to score podiums when they stay out of trouble and as a result of this, Edonis Engineering has a fair chance of ending up in the top-8 of the constructor standings.


Wauters Automotive

# 22 Bart de Vos
# 23 Steve Verloy

Wauters Automotive joins the Supercup after placing a successful bid and they were one of the chosen teams to participate in the Supercup season, but they were not only successful in getting the team in, but also getting a star line-up in there cars.

De Vos needs no further introduction, as the 2011 Supercup champion, he brings quality and experience to the Wauters team and they will benefit hugely of Bart?s knowhow.
Will Bart be a championship candidate? No, some people are just too fast but Bart will get some podiums and some good points finishes, which would not harm the Wauters team.

Verloy making Wauters an all Belgian racing team. Verloy is known for racing in the Superleague in 2013 and will be taking a step back. He looks to be a decent driver for the Supercup, but we don?t know how fast he really is or can be; we didn?t see much of him during the winter testing and therefore we don?t have an idea were he could be pace wise, we will follow this guys with interest.


SimCraft Racing

# 24 Alex Cooper
# 25 Florian Geier

SimCraft will make their Supercup debut and they have a stunning line-up. This will be the team to beat, they dominated the pre-season testing and with drivers Alex Cooper and Florian Geier they have two future stars in their cars.

Alex Cooper, a Superleague veteran, decided to take a step back after the signing of Rainieri in ?his? Superleague. However this step back can mean success and possibly two steps ahead in the future. He seems to be very strong during his practise runs, but can he deal with the pressure a champion has? Cooper will be a strong contender to win the championship and this step back can only do him good.

Geier is the second ace in the deck of cards which is in the hands of the SimCraft team. He is a driver who is still growing and he is getting better and better time after time. We expect him to be a little bit slower then Alex in the beginning of the season, but he could get Alex Cooper at the end of the season.

These two drivers will be at the top of the standings when they do not do stupid things and we expect that SimCraft will be in the top-3 of the constructors championship.


Measuric Racing

# 26 Ari Nieminen
# 27 Mike Bell

Now we have Measuric Racing with a decent line-up for a first Supercup season, maybe not as good a some other teams, but still a very experienced line-up for Measuric.

Nieminen, another quick Fin in the Supercup, knows how to bring a car home and score good points.
We expect some decent results. This driver deserves to be in Supercup and he will be another bonus for the already impressing Supercup field.

Mike Bell impressed last season, he has decent speed and has the skill to have a very good tactical understanding. We expect unique strategies of Bell that could work out fine. Do not forget: Bell is a ?tyre whisperer?

Decent line-up but we will see whether that is enough to beat other teams.


Positive Simracing

# 28 Kevin Siggy
# 29 Balasz Remenyik

Next up is Positive Simracing. They introduce two new drivers into the Supercup and GPVWC: Kevin Siggy and Balasz Remenyik. Both drivers looked very fast during the pre-season test and it would not surprise us if they can do a very good job in their first GPVWC season.

Siggy impressed during several test sessions. He was fast during the pre-season test in Istanbul and topped one pre-season test in Imola and looks to have great qualification pace in his hands. This means that a top-10 qualification should be a good target for him. Hopefully he shows his speed during the race as well and when he does we expect him to score good points in Melbourne and the rest of his season.

Remenyik also impressed us during the test sessions. He didn?t put in the strong pace that Siggy showed but that does not mean that he is slow. On the contrary, he is quite fast as well. Balasz is the kind of racer that grows in confidence at every circuit and we expect a clean first season for Balasz in which he can score a good bag of points.

Good line-up for a first season, they will scare some of the other teams for sure.


TheSixthAxis Racing

# 30 Thomas Jacobs
# 31 Cameron Brewster

The last new team to enter the 2014 Supercup is one of the fan?s favourite: theSixthAxis Racing, better known as TSA racing. The line-up consists two English drivers: Formula Challenge race-winner Thomas Jacobs and the second seat will be filled by Sir Cameron Brewster.

Last year, Jacobs ended up 6th in the Formula Challenge. Now he switches to the Supercup. Thomas is a good driver to sign, because he seems to be fast in both touring cars and open wheelers. He has to fight hard competition in the Supercup and he could struggle to score points, but Jacobs is a fighter and we are sure he will get some top-10 finishes under his belt this season.

Brewster knows that winning races, getting pole positions or even scoring points will be difficult. However, Cameron is a solid finisher and he knows that you have to finish in order to score points and that is what he is aiming for. We hope that he is able to get some valuable points that may help TSA racing getting past some teams in the constructor standings.

Solid line-up with a beautiful car.


Authors: Menno Klont and Mike Schroten